Illini Gridiron Practice Report
August 22, 2005 | Football
Aug. 22, 2005
- Post-practice with Head Coach Ron Zook
- Post-practice with Head Football Equipment Manager Trent Chesnut
The Fighting Illini football team continued to prepare for the 2005 season with a physical practice in full pads, Monday afternoon. The Illini were back at a familiar practice location on the grass practice field east of Memorial Stadium. It was the first time the squad had gone through drills on that field since the spring. Practice continues at 2:20 p.m. at Memorial Stadium Tuesday. Tuesday's session will give the Illini their last real scrimmage, getting in situational work, before they head into the Rutgers game plan.
 Monday's workout was the first for the Fighting Illini on their regular grass field east of Memorial Stadium since last spring.  |
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"Wednesday and Thursday we will begin to work on Rutgers," Zook said. "It will be more about teaching the guys how a game week will work, how we do scout team. It gives them an idea of what we expect out of them. I don't like to put too much in too early because you take a chance that the guys get stale."
Zook also talked about the continued competition at most of the positions.
"I don't like to sit around and talk about who is starting here and who's there," said Zook. "Competition is good. The more players you can play the better we are going to be. If you start telling players they are second-team, they start playing like they're second team. If they feel like they're first team, they'll play like it. Why not tell them all, they're all first team? You see that a lot, guys slipping into second-team mode. I have the most respect for back-up quarterbacks because they always have to be sharp. We are going to play as many guys as we can. That will help us, particularly down the road."
ZOOK SPEAKS TO INCOMING FRESHMEN:
Following Monday's practice, Head Coach Ron Zook took his freshmen football players into the stadium to meet and greet more than 8,000 incoming students at the Annual Illini First Night. After encouraging the group to be regulars in the student section this fall, Coach Zook delivered an important announcement to the student body. Zook officially announced that this year's homecoming theme against Penn State Oct. 22 will be "Ignite My Illini," cueing a fireworks show that followed.
FOOTBALL STAFF SPOTLIGHT
Trent Chesnut, Illinois' head football equipment manager, enters his sixth year with the team, but is learning a new system just like the players. Chesnut and his staff of one graduate assistant and 10-12 student managers just returned from the daunting task of moving their entire outfit back from a very successful Camp Rantoul. One of the most extensive jobs among the support staff, the equipment staff returned to Champaign with full practice uniforms, goalposts, clocks, tackling dummies, sleds and countless other equipment needed to run daily workouts. The squad, however, never missed a beat, starting up practice once again Monday afternoon. In addition to running practice, Chesnut's crew is responsible for all ordering and maintenance of gameday and practice uniforms.
 Among the student managers' duties is holding the down and distance markers during practices. |
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On getting equipment to and from Camp Rantoul...
"We took two trips with a 24-foot Ryder truck. We used an 18-foot Ryder to haul the players' bags. We started set-up on a Saturday afternoon, and by Sunday night it was all set up in Rantoul. On the way back, we got short notice that we were going to have the (Saturday) scrimmage at Memorial Stadium, so we were kind of like the Baltimore Colts packing up the Mayflower and moving in the middle of the night.
On any uniform changes to expect...
"The uniforms are the same (as last year's), but we kind of tweaked the helmet decal on the side. The "ILLINOIS" will be outlined in navy, so it stands out. People in the stands will really notice it more. To me it looks a lot sharper. Next year, we are changing the uniforms. Nike showed us a couple different looks. Coach Zook and his staff took a look and we'll go from there. Expect a whole new look for the Illini in the fall of '06. It's going to be sharp."
